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There are many options available
using different hardware and software combinations but none we have
found to be as simple as the Kerio Winroute Firewall solution.
Remote Access has always been
popular with business owners who like to call in and check things out
back at the office, but this has now become a critical element in Sales
Force Automation, allowing sales people to have full access to the company's
computers from the field.
Remote access operates in two
different ways:
Which one is right for you depends on a lot of factors that have to
be carefully considered.
Remote Control and Network Access
With Remote Control, you connect to a computer by modem or network
and literally take it over. The computer you are working at just becomes
a screen and keyboard extension for the one you have called into.
With Network Access, your computer becomes just another citizen
on the network. You can access the servers just as if you were on
the local network except response is slower. Sometimes much, much
slower. This network access can be by telephone line and modem, or
by Internet through a router.
Because network access over phone
lines can be so slow (because all the network traffic to and from your
computer goes through the line) remote control (where only keyboard
and screen go through the line) has been much more common.
The problem with remote control
is you are taking over a computer at the office, so that computer must
be available and not in use. If there are a lot of people calling in,
there must be a lot of computers. For this reason, rack mount devices
are available into which can be plugged a bunch of "single board" computers.
Sometimes two computers per board.
These computers must be able to handle the programs to be run, but don't
need hard disks, floppy disks, monitors or keyboards. Such a device
is called a RAS (Remote Access Server).
Another alternative that has become
popular in smaller businesses is to run Terminal Services. This can
be a cost effective way of having several users connect to the network
through the use of a single server.
Points to note here are
- Every user connecting to the Terminal Server is effectively using
a
percentage of the resources available.
- The more users connecting, the more the resources have to be divided.
- Since it is just one computer, you need very high specification
if you want
lots of people connecting.
- It is cost effective because you only need one computer instead
of an equal
number to the people wanting access.
- The Terminal Server allows centralised maintenance of a single
computer.
Connections over the Internet
involve all the complex security considerations any other kind of Internet
service requires.
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